King will sign today

16 Sep 2010 08:56:08

CT exclusive; Deal finally done after crisis talks The Coventry Telegraph s reporting that the controversial striker Marlon King will pen a deal today with Coventry City and bring to an end a long, hugely tedious and protracted affair. King and his agent Tony Finnegan were beginning to get frustrated over the delay in getting King onto the Coventry books, but it would appear the problem lay with the club rather than with the player. Coventry City Football Club have remained silent over the whole affair and have given no hint why there was apparent reluctance to employ Marlon King. The City manager Aidy Boothroyd is keen to have King in his side and the player himself also said he wanted to work under Boothroyd again, even though he could probably get a better deal elsewhere. Following crisis talks between Finnegan and the club, the long running problems have now been solved and Finnegan now expects the deal to be signed later today. It emerged on Tuesday that Nottingham Forest were interested in taking King and it was this rumour that prompted Finnegan to seek 'clear the air talks' with Coventry City to either get a deal or to walk away and find King another club. Finnegan told The CT,“As far as we are concerned it is imminent. We all had a meeting to get it over the finishing line and although Marlon didn’t sign yesterday, everything now seems fine. We are waiting for the green light and I like to think there will be an announcement by the club today.” When Finnegan was asked about the Forest interest, he confirmed not just Forest, but five or six other clubs were interested in the 30 year old striker, saying, “It is my job to find players employment and here we have a Premiership footballer who is available. So there is interest in him. That’s fact, but Marlon wants to sign for Coventry.” City boss Aidy Boothroyd had previously thought he had finalised a deal with King. he had passed a medical and has been training with the squad for over a month now. He has played in two friendless, scoring in both of them. Boothroyd had hinted that he thought the club board were responsible for the hold up, but according to Finnegan that has now been solved. If King does sign today, he is expected to go straight into the City squad that travel to Bristol on Saturday, a squad that is fast being hit with injuries. Loan signing Danny Ward is the latest in a long line of players who are receiving treatment. The 19 year old was replaced on Tuesday night after feeling his calf muscle pop. Boothroyd confirmed, Boothroyd revealed, “He said he felt his calf pop and obviously that sort of language doesn’t sound very good. “We had a lot of players unavailable at Swansea and it looks like it could be one more on Saturday. These things happen; you have to ride it out." "We’re getting our run of injuries now but we have to hope that by the end of the season everybody is fit and flying and we’ll be picking up three points on a regular basis.”